THE MARS VOLTA TAKE HOME HARD ROCK GRAMMY FOR DINNER

The Mars Volta took home the Best Hard Rock performance for Wax Simulacra, and the band remembered those who came before.

The Mars Volta took home their first ever Grammy award at Sunday’s pre-show ceremony at the Staples Center. The band’s Wax Simulacra was facing off against songs by Judas Priest, Disturbed, Rob Zombie and Motley Crue.

During their acceptance speech they made a shout out to punk pioneers The Cramps and the Stooges who had members pass away this year.

[Presenter] “The winner… The Grammy goes to The Mars Volta.” [The Mars Volta] “Hi. This is for all the people who went crazy having to work with us. This is for everybody’s moms and dads. This is for my dad. Viva Mexico. Long live Lux Interior from the Cramps and Ron Asheton from the Stooges. Remember them, thank you.”

Backstage they were asked if they were influenced by others in the category. They replied that they’re the real motley crew due to their styles that comprise more than hard rock.

“We’re all just who we are. We are the real definition of Motley Crue. No disresprect to them. They’re great too. None of those groups inspired us, but for us it was more of a thing of being together. We never had it in our minds that we could ever come close to winning. So, for us we’ve been off tour for a while and we thought it was really nice to be invited to this dinner. It was like being someone inviting you to their house. So, we said, ‘We should go. We should all be together and it was nice to be someone’s houseguest for a minute, and we didn’t know that we would get to eat the main meal.”

The 51st Annual Grammy Awards pre-show was aired live on Grammy.com, and others who accepted pre show included Carrie Underwood and Metallica among others. Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez formed The Mars Volta out of the ashes of one of the most exciting and volatile bands, At The Drive-In, which broke up earlier this decade.